Repercussions
by KE12
Summary: Elsa's 'eternal winter' forces Vikings to raid Europe's most northern nations for food after their crops are destroyed. In this story, I'm going for a semi-realistic take on Vikings, so it's rated K for now but this might become a T later on.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay important note**

 **This is a 'short' chapter of a story idea I've had for this universe, I've been developing it in my mind while writing The Man From Berk and I've eventually got it to a point where I can put some words on paper and find out what people think of the idea, and then maybe start writing for it on the side / when I fancy a small break from TMFB.**

 **I will say this now, which might throw a lot of you off, I will be ignoring a lot of the series as imo they make Hiccup look less intelligent then what this story demands from him, also Hiccup is going to be a Viking through and through, you will understand what I mean by this by the end of this chapter hopefully.**

 **So, let us get to it, shall we?**

 **/.../**

Stoick the Vast released a deep breath as he fell to his knees, the sight before him was devastating and heart-wrenching. Leaning forward he picked up a handful of limp barley to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him but his eyes told the horrifying truth, the plants were dead, killed by a freak snowstorm that came in the height of spring when the crops were at their most vulnerable. Gobber, the chiefs most trusted friend approached slowly, he opened his mouth to speak a few times but no words came out.

Stoick hearing his friend approach rose from the ground, his hand still clutching the dead plants. "Save it." He growled before turning to Gobber. "I don't need to hear it."

Gobber swallowed hard before coming to stand by his friend and saying. "The people will want an explanation."

Stoick started to laugh as he gestured to the fields of dead crops in front of him, "How do I explain this?" He demanded of Gobber. "What did we do to anger the gods so much?"

The blacksmith shook his head; he did not know but they must have truly angered the gods for such punishment. "We may never know as is the mysterious ways of the gods, but what we need to know is what are you going to do about this?"

Stoick turned from the fields and started to walk back towards his village, Gobber followed him as he did so. "There is only one thing we can do." Gobber raised an inquisitive brow but did not say anything at all. "We go raiding."

"Oh aye," Gobber replied with sarcastic undertones. "And who do we raid not inflicted with this?"

The Viking chief only knew of one place that might have been spared the snow storm, and even then he did not know if it existed. "We go south."

"Ah," Gobber exclaimed with more sarcastic undertones. "We go to this land we've never seen never mind set foot on."

The chief nodded but before he could reply he had to move to the side, allowing a villager with a cart of saved vegetables past. "The dragon riders will leave for a scouting mission, if there is land my son will find it."

While Gobber trusted Hiccup would find land to the south if it existed, he was sceptical if the land he was sent to find exists in the first placed. "And what if they don't?"

"There is land," Stoick spoke with such determination and hope that even Gobber believed it, if only for a moment.

 **Two hours later**

Hiccup placed his last item in Toothless' saddle bag and closed the bags flap, sealing the item in, then he rounded his dragon to look Toothless in the face. "Okay bud, I think we have everything." The dragon turned his head to look at the saddle and moved his legs and wings slightly to feel the weight and see if his mobility was hindered, fortunately, while heavy the bags did not hinder him too much.

"Hiccup?" Astrid shouted his name from securing her own bags on her dragon. "Armour or not?"

Hiccup turned to face Astrid, the woman he was once set to marry before an injury gained in battle made her sterile. "No." He replied. "It is too heavy, only take minimal weaponry too."

"So no Macey?" Asked Tuffnut with an alarmed voice.

Hiccup shook his head. "No, only your spears and shield."

"But..."

The twin was about to argue but Hiccup soon put an end to this. "No means no Tuff. We are going to be flying for who knows how long and with no known islands to call shelter. Any un-needed weight is only going to tire our dragon's sooner." With the twin put in his place, Hiccup addressed the rest of the group. Alright, mount up." Soon everyone was on their dragon but before they took to the skies Stoick approached.

"Alright." He started. "I only have two orders for you all, first of all, you are not to be discovered, and secondly, bring back good news."

Hiccup nodded at his chief and father before looking around the dragon arena, it looked like the entire village had turned out to wish them good fortunes in their vital mission. "We will." Hiccup swore before looking to his dragon riders and nodding, signalling them to take off.

After watching his son fly away Stoick turned to the crowd that had gathered. "Listen up." He shouted. "When my son returns with news of lands to the south I want raiding parties ready to go, we are Vikings with the blood of giants in our veins, let's be ready to show the world what we're made of."

 **6 weeks later**

Stoick took a hearty swag from his mug before slamming it on the table, it had been 6 weeks and his son was yet to return, many were starting to whisper that he failed to find land and his dragon fell into the sea exhausted from flight, but Stoick still held hope, his son who had essentially united the various Viking clans under his rule and who's victories in battle were sung about could not have fallen from glory in such a terrible way, he refused to believe it.

Hearing the clash of thunder Stoick sighed before getting up from his throne in the Great hall and getting himself another drink of boiled water, while he wished he could refill his mug with an alcoholic beverage he couldn't as the food items usually allotted to making ale was now solely used for food, taking a sip of water he made a quick prayer to Óðinn, with the hopes that his son would soon return and with good news because food reserves were almost depleted.

Hearing the heavy doors to the great hall open he did not think much of it till the hall became silent and then an eruption of applause was heard and turning he saw a sight that almost made his eyes water. The dragon riders had returned. Pushing his way through the crowd he found himself standing in front of his son who looked a little like a wet yak, Hiccup had obviously been caught in the storm outside. "Well?" Stoick asked, impatient for the news of land.

Hiccup turned to look at the Great Halls door where a small man stood between Snotlout and Tuffnut, his arms and legs bound with thick unrelenting rope, then he turned back to his father. "We found it."

"I knew you of all people would find it!" Stoick replied before pulling his son into a bone crushing hug. "Now tell us about what you have found," Stoick asked with an undeniably excited voice after letting him go a short time later.

Hiccup give his father a nod and pat on the arm before climbing onto a table so he could be seen by all. "We found land!" He shouted and with the news the room erupted once more into cheers and applause. "And there is more." He tried to shout over the sound of cheering Vikings but his voice was too quiet and he needed to wait a while so he could be heard. "And there is more. It has food, lots of food, and gold. These people," Hiccup pointed to the man between Tuff and Snotlout. "They live like kings, with fine cloth, more food than you or I could imagine and they sip fine wines." This was greeted with another loud applause, and by the time the room died down a little Stoick also had climbed onto the table.

"Someone, crack open the last of our wine, for tonight we celebrate." The man shouted with such cheer that it was almost infectious. "And tomorrow, we raid!" It was understandably a while for the applause to die down. "But wait, there is one more reason to celebrate this day!" The crowd grew quiet as many tried to figure out the other reason.

"Who brought the snakes in helmets to their knees?" 'Snakes in Helmets' being the derogatory name for the Lava-louts, Berks largest rival.

There was a shout among the Vikings. "Hiccup did!"

"Who defeated the Red-Death?" Hiccups name was chanted again. "Who's name do we chant when retelling the tale of our victory over the Meat-Heads?" Once more Hiccups name filled the air. "And who taught that vermin Vego a thing or two about playing with us Vikings?" Yet again Hiccups name was chanted.

Hiccup looked at his father nervously. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Stoick seemed to ignore Hiccup. "Then, I ask you, who should lead our raids to the south?" Unsurprisingly Hiccups name was chanted.

"Dad?" Hiccup asked uncertainly. "Is this really the best idea you've had?"

"Of course it is son," Stoick slapped Hiccup on the back. "With new lands, a new leader should be at the helm of our people." Hiccup wanted to argue, but he knew doing so was pointless, not only did his father want him to lead the raids but seemingly so did everyone else in Berk. "And when you return, laden with food and riches." Stoick continued after a little pause. "Berk will have a new chief, a one proven in battle and loved by all, dragon and Viking alike!"

Hiccup brought a hand up to his forehead to cover his eyes, now it was announced to the people he really could not get out of delaying his ascension to chiefdom. When the congratulations and cheering died down a few minutes later Stoick pulled his son and other dragon riders onto a table so that they could talk, he wanted to know more of these lands he was to raid. "Now, what else can you tell me of these lands we are to plunder?"

Hiccup held up a finger to signal a small pause and then he disappeared only to bring the bound man up to the table. "This man is a traveller; he knows all about the places we should visit."

Stoick turned to the small man. "Well, tell me of the riches that await." Hiccup was forced to translate into a language that the man could understand.

The man swallowed nervously before trying to speak. "There is many nations."

"And what of the closest?" Asked Stoick.

"N-Norge (Norway)." The man replied. "It has many riches and lots of food."

Stoick stroked his beard. "And what of their defences?"

The man shook his head a little. "A small army, insignificant I'm sure to your warriors."

Stoick laughed at this comment. "Brown nosing ain't going to set you free. Now, what of their allies?"

"There is the Kalmar union, between itself, Svergie (Sweeden) and Danmark (Denmark), 3 nations ruled by one monarch, to engage one is to fight them all."

"So no other allies?" Asked Stoick.

"A small country called Arendelle, I know little of their capabilities."

Stoick scowled a little at the man's response before signalling for the man to be dragged off somewhere else, then he turned to Hiccup. "So, what is your plan? Where do we raid first?"

"We?" Asked Hiccup.

"Aye." Laughed Stoick. "You didn't think I would miss out on this did you? It is the chance of a lifetime."

"By putting me in charge I assumed you would be staying here to keep the peace."

"Bah." Stoick spat. "Stay here with the old, pregnant and dying? No chance, they will drive me into the sea long before you return."

"Got a point." Hiccup relented. "Now, my plan is to Hit Norge, they have something called castles, that being villages protected by large stone walls, from what I've been told this is where we will find the most food." As Hiccup spoke he pulled out his journal and opened it to a page which had a crude drawn map. "There is a river here, and one of these castles sits around about here, also there is villages all up the river, my idea is if we land here we can swarm inland, pillaging as we go."

"And how do we attack these stone wall cities?" Asked Stoick curious of his son's response.

Hiccup flicked a few pages back in his book. "I've already thought of this, remember when I nearly burned down the town all those years ago with my trebuchet idea?"

"How could I forget?" Asked stoick with a laugh, that little 'accident' had more than a few after his sons head.

"Well, I believe with some slight modifications we could use a few of these to break the walls down."

Stoick nodded in agreement, the trebuchets would break the walls down but that seemed like an awfully hard way to do things considering they had dragons which would be able to simply roll through the wall as if they didn't exist. "Aye, but why not use dragons?"

Hiccup smiled. "When their leaders learn of our arrival they will send armies, and if they do not know we have dragons how can they prepare for them when I decide to use them?"

"They can't," Stoick replied, realising what Hiccup was intending.

 **Okay, so that is the pitch for this story, with the 'Eternal Winter' killing all crops on Berk and the surrounding islands Berk is forced to go raiding to the south for food, and when they get there an inevitable war is going to start between the Vikings and the 'allies'.**

 **I also know what some of you are going to say now, if the winter killed crops on Berk then surely it would have killed crops of Arendelle / Norway / Sweeden/ denmark, yes this is a problem but I do have ideas to address this.**

 **Also do you see how I mean by Hiccup being a 'Viking'? So he is going to believe in raids and have general Viking ethos, which at times will seem barbaric to the more civilised people, i.e us.**

 **Another thing I was thinking of doing is making this a Hicc-Anna since not many of them are around, but with the idea behind this story you have probably realised this will be done more politically then 'falling in love' .**

 **Finally, this will not 'over-take' TMFB, this is just something I've wanted to write down so I don't forget the idea, what do you think? Like where this idea is heading? Despise it? Love it? Let me know.**

 **Cheers for reading, KE12**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, this is just a short chapter (Just shy of 2k words) as I wanted to address a few questions people have asked now rather than later on when I have a normal 4-5k chap ready, also like TMFB I will answer all reviews in the next chap unless for whatever reason a PM is required.**

 **Right, somethings you all might be interested in,**

 **Will England, France / Other nations be making an appearance? Yes and no, yes as they will exist in this universe but no as I don't plan on them** **playing** **a major role, or at least I don't right now. Also don't expect this to be like TMFB where I try to make cameos and include other aspects of the disney universe.**

 **Hiccup in this story is going to be more of an explorer at heart, as is his character in the films, but I need you to realise that when his entire people are without food and starving, he will do whatever is necessary to feed his people. Really my idea behind this story is that Hiccup is going to be viewed by the world as a 'bad guy' when he is only doing what he is forced to do for his people because of Elsa's actions creating the snow storm. I was looking for a term to explain this but can't think of it right now. Maybe a reader can help me out think of the term.**

 **Yes, Hiccup is going to be killing people directly and indirectly, I'm not going to write the glory details too much but it is going to be implied a lot.**

 **What age is this set in? I think it will be set around the 1500's, this may change slightly but this is what I'm aiming at right now as empires aren't really a thing yet in northern europe and guns are yet to really come into play. Also this story takes place when hiccup is 20 and a few months after Frozen, the events of HTTYD2 won't exist as in this universe Hiccup would have just killed Drago at the first sign of real trouble.**

 **And I think that covers the questions which concerns all readers, onto RR**

 **Sammuel29  
Just a short chap but I guess you will find out.**

 **Maerk Andrew  
I'm not going to say too much on the other tribes right now, as if I'm honest I have 2 ideas im playing with and either or could still triumph over the other right now. Also Elsa is top choice for me too but if I'm going realistic in this story then trying Hiccelsa would cause too many problems which wouldn't really occur in real life.**

 **Guest(1)  
Nope, not fast tracking this, it will be a little while before Arendelle even comes into this.**

 **The Great Wizard  
I agree, as a movie to entertain HTTYD is great, but to entertain they have 'forgotten' lots of aspects about Vikings. Also while I don't intend on writing too much about some aspects, like human sacrifices and what not, I do intend on implying it, mainly because I don't want to make this so I have to give it the highest rating and tune lots of people out when it's not necessary for the story to progress.**

 **Sheps T-ard  
I will say the Vikings aren't going to roll over when times get tough, and you will see a lot of Vikings as they were, but with some adjustments to allow for the HTTYD universe of dragons and what not.**

 **ElectroVenik  
Man, when Hiccup lets people go time and time again in the series it annoyed the hell out of me, yes I understand kids watch it and dreamworks can't have him killing left right and centre, but...yeah. Another thing that irritated me was stupid decisions he made, especially when tackling Vigo. Infact these two reasons are why I'm going to ignore a lot of the series.**

 **NoctusFury  
Yeah, as I'm going a realistic route this story is going to have Hiccup out of character, there is no possible way I that I can think of that would could keep him in character with what you would expect from the films. What I am going to try and do though is keep his ideas of protecting the dragons, helping his people and his desire to explore.**

 **Also BANG you hit the nail on the head with the 'no better than them', the thing that this story is going for is that he is being forced to become the bad guy to save his people.**

 **How do I come up with the words? Usually I use google to search what I am looking for and then cross reference with other sources online to make sure they are right.**

 **Red Star  
Thanks for the comments and man, I completely forgot about 'Of State' (Any reading this should defo go check it out!). But yeah, I hope where this goes gives you a few ideas!**

Stoick, being the chief of Berk and her conquers was the first to jump from the long boat and onto the beach of the land he was here to plunder, it felt good to have solid land under his feet after just shy of 3 weeks at sea. Falling to his knees he kissed the ground and sent a pray to Odin, the all father, thanking him for their safe arrival. When they had set sail from Berk they knew the boat journey was going to be long and arduous, but never had Stoick expected it to be 3 weeks, and after the 2nd week many had started to lose hope of ever finding land.

Hiccup who was second to jump from the long boat came beside his father, but he did not fall to his knees and kiss the land as his father did, instead he took a deep breath, the boat he had traversed the sea on was small and cramped which often led him to feel a little suffocated, so to stand on land with no constraints as to where he could go felt glorious. Hearing his fellow Vikings jump from their ships behind him Hiccup turned and spoke so his father could hear him. "We have a lot to do."

Stoick stood from his knees and turned to face the long boats, he was an experienced man who had lived through many raids, for Hiccup to tell him that they had lot to do was a little belittling but stoick didn't care, on this expedition he is little more than a fighter and aid to his son, "Yes, let's get to it then."

The chief's son give a small nod before grabbing a few men who wandered onto shore from the long boats and ordering them to scout the area, and then he rolled his sleeves up before helping his fellow Vikings to beach the longboats, as if they drifted off then this who raid would have been for nothing.

A few hours later all the long boats were beached and Hiccup had established some defences around their position while also setting up some shelter to shield them from the harshest of winds and rain. Sitting down next to a fire Stoick handed his son a fish. "So then." The Chief started as he bit down into his own fish, freshly caught from the ocean. "What is your plan?"

Hiccup waited till his food had been swallowed. "We wait."

"Wait?" Exclaimed Snotlout with a questioning tone. Stoick stayed silent at the revelation that they were to wait despite also being impatient to get to it, as one thing he had learned since he started actually listening to his son was that there was always a method to the madness.

"Yes." Hiccup responded before taking another bite of his fish. "We wait."

"What for?" Snotlout was bewildered that they were to wait and it was evident in his high pitched voice.

Hiccup took yet another bite from his fish and then he answered. "We wait for night to fall."

"And then we raid?" Asked Tuffnut with hope in his eyes, and Hiccup gives a nod.

 **2 Hours after nightfall**

The Village in front of them and at the bottom of the hill was rather large, but this did not concern Hiccup, from his vantage point on top of the hill he could see that most of the villages fires and lights had been extinguished and few people were awake. "What are we waiting for?" Groaned Snotlout. "Let's just get to it."

Hiccup sighed before turning to Snotlout. "You know what, I've been over this plan countless times now."

The man groaned again, sure they had a plan, but, "They are asleep, this will be like taking a toy from a baby."

"We can't have anyone escape Snotlout." Informed Hiccup. "We wait for the second team to ignite their fire." And once that happened the raid would begin.

Fortunately for the Vikings they did not have to wait long. Seeing the fire of the second team Hiccup picked up his shield and drew a single handed axe from his belt, he did not need to tell the others to advance on the town as they all knew what the fire meant and they were almost running towards the village at seeing the fire, the idea of gaining glory in battle high on their mind. Before Hiccup started to move towards the Village his father pulled him aside discreetly. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you again, but remember your training and I'll see you on the other side." Hiccup nodded before taking off towards the village, but at a cautious pace many of his fellow Vikings lacked.

The first few kills were silent but then someone must have messed up as a bell started to ring and everyone from the village was running in fear, but it made for easy killings and soon the Vikings had killed the entire population with only one man left spare, the man was large around the stomach and ladened with gold, meaning he was likely important and probably knowledgeable of the land. Spitelout slammed the rich man into a chair under Hiccups orders, allowing the Viking to interrogate him. "Your food stocks, where are they?" Demanded Hiccup.

The man was a bubbling mess and managed only to plead for his life which only did the opposite for his chances of survival and soon Stoicks axe separated his head from his neck. "Well.." Hiccup started, surprised that his father beheaded the man without him giving permission. "Not getting any more from him now. Get all the food out and then we burn this place to the ground. Leave this building to last as I am not done with it."

With a nod many Vikings left the building they were occupying, allowing Hiccup to walk its halls, the building was much larger than the others in this town, and they had found a considerable quantity of gold inside, but the gold was not what Hiccup found most valuable in this building. Walking around the building, a torch in hand so he could see, he came across a large shelf filled with books. Walking up the bookshelf he looked at the many book spines till he came across one that looked rather inconspicuous. Picking it out he flicked over a few pages, it was written in a language he could not understand. With a saddened sigh he put the book under his armour so that he could keep it for later and continued his search of the building.

He looked in every room and searched every creek and cranny, but it was in the last room that he found what he wanted. "Stop." He shouted to a Viking who was about to rip what looked like a rag to the unsuspecting off the wall. The Viking turned to look at him, his eyes questioning why he was ordered to stop. "This, do not destroy it." The Viking was a little saddened that he could not have his fun, but there were many other buildings and items he could destroy elsewhere.

Approaching the rag the Viking had wanted to destroy Hiccup grinned at his find before taking it down from the wall and neatly folding it up for further study later on.

/.../

As the Vikings walked back to their shelter after doing their bidding Hiccup had a gold cup laden with expensive jewels thrust into his hand. "Take a swig of your plunder." Ordered Stoick and Hiccup did as he was instructed, only to spit the liquid out and this caused his father to laugh heartedly. "Tastes like piss eh?"

"Piss is one word I'd use." Retorted Hiccup.

Stoick laughed again before taking the cup from Hiccup and having himself another swag. "Well, piss or not, enough will get you merry as Spitelout has found."

"As I can tell with you, now hand it back."

Stoick chuckled and handed his son the cup. "So, what are our plans for tomorrow?" He asked as Hiccup drank.

Hiccup wiped his mouth with his sleeve as he passed the cup back to his chief, whatever his father had found and was drinking really was awful but his father was right, enough of whatever it is would get him merry and that was the main thing. As for the plan? "We wait."

"Wait?" Stoick exclaimed as he looked inside the cup to find it was nearly empty. "An' I thought you said this tastes of piss?" He complained.

"Doesn't mean I can't drink it."

"Huh." Complained Stoick at the idea he was going to have to get it refilled so soon. "And wait for what?"

"Consider this raid tonight a knock on the door, I wish to see who answers and meet their leaders." Stoick started to laugh prompting Hiccup to ask, "What is so humorous?"

"If this was a knock on the door." Started stoick with a chuckle. "I can't wait to see what happens when we bash the door down." After laughing some more to himself Stoick was about to ask his son a question but Fishlegs interrupted.

"We have 5 carriages of food, 12 barrels of wine, 6 crates of gold, 7 injured and no deaths."

The Chief took a drink from the golden cup, finishing it off before handing it to Hiccup and saying. "It is a good haul, tonight we were blessed by the gods."

"I will drink to that. "Hiccup stated and then he tried to drink from the cup only to throw it at his father and claim. "You Loki." The golden cup fell to the floor and was nearly obscured from sight by long grass.

Stoick laughed at his trick and son's reaction before asking. "What would life be without a good trick every now and then?"

"A blessing?" Asked Hiccup genuinely.

"Ha." The chief laughed in partial agreement, and before walking any further Stoick picked up the golden cup since he could not be hassled with finding another cup to hold his wine. After refilling the cup with 'wine' he returned to his son's side. "Now, why do you wish to meet their leaders?" As he spoke he passed the cup to his son.

Hiccup drank from the cup before giving his answer. "So that I know how to find the head of the snake."

/.../

 **Next morning**

Hiccup woke with a startle and sat up, his head was a little tender but not overly so. Groaning he crawled out of his tent and looked around, Vikings were running towards the front of the camp and to where all the defences had been set up. "Hiccup were under attack!" Informed Fishlegs as he too ran around, much like a headless chicken trying to find his gear. With another groan, he stood up, since he had slept in his trademark black leather armour all he needed to do was grab his few weapons and shield. Then finding his way to the front of their base he assessed what had his Vikings so wound up.

"I would hardly call this an attack." He spoke to no one in particular before finding his father and walking out of the camp with a few men and towards the small party of 10 or so locals, who to be fair were heavily armed. "Hello," Hiccup called to the locals as he stopped ten paces in front of them.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a small update to let you know I'm still onboard with this story, but the delay has given me a metric tonne of ideas for this. This chapter has a simple mission for Hiccup but I do plan on getting more advanced soldiers as bigger foes come into the picture, right now it's basically Viking raiders vs a bunch of poorly equipped part time villages part-time soldiers.**

 **Seps-T Ard  
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with astrid if I'm honest, right now I'm torn on two routes. The first route is this, in Viking society it's suggested that while women did go raiding, those who did were often viewed as the outcasts of society and I don't think Astrid would want to fall into that category, so what I think I'm going to do to keep her in line with her character is to make her a person who knows how to fight because she had to defend her village from other Vikings / dragons and keep her on Berk to defend the village, and by doing that I believe I can keep her strong woman personality other than making her a nobody. The other route is making her the society outcast... what do you think?**

 **Inspector-me  
Well thank you! And here is your update!**

 **Noctus  
You are right about the tomahawk, my problem is everyone knows what a tomahawk looks like and while I know people are smart enough to imagine what a single handed axe looks like, I want Hiccup using a slightly more sophisticated looking weapon, thus I was calling it a tomahawk (since I think they look a bit better)... basically this all boils down to a stupid thing I did because I was too lazy to describe his weaponry in much detail. Anyway, it's probably important to note these Vikings will be using some unique weapons, you know from my other story on here I've enjoyed using some creativity and conjuring new and unique weapons for Hiccup and in truth, we will probably see some of them trickle into this universe. (Especially his black short sword with the engravings and simple handle, despite the fact I know of no swords that were coloured as such, this weapon is simply one I love too much to not include).**

 **As for the time, yeah the more I've thought about it the more I've come to realise 1500 armies are a little big and quite well equipped, but at the same time I have many plans how he can defeat them without the use of dragons directly, It's annoying me as to what to do. Also yeah, the first town was basically unprotected, you get the gist of why he attacked that one village in this chapter, it was basically a knock on the door to find out who answers.**

 **Where are they in these last three chapters? The very most north west parts of Norway. I'm still debating on the precise region (Maybe the Forde region) but I don't think that is too important now, at least not till the group start to engage the more central Norweigan powers**

 **Redstar**

 **Not going to lie, I think Vikings is one of (If not) the best series going (It's the only series I've willing watched all the way through out of breaking bad, game of thrones, walking dead, ect ect) , so you will probably see a lot of references in this story, but obviously I'm giving this my own spin so it's not just a copy and paste with dragons in the back ground. While I also believe Hiccup would be a one to stay slightly behind in a battle but I don't think it is in his character to be the one at the back shouting forward 'Doing a great job up there, keep at it'. So my solution to this is when writing him in combat I'm trying to make out he is more cautious than the average Viking, so not just rushing blindingly into a war zone, ect. Also interesting point about where Stoick would have Hiccup in battle, I have two views on this, yes he wouldn't want to leave his son, known for lack of muscle to his own will in battle, but at the same time in Viking culture the chief needed to be a 'strong man' so maybe stoick would want his son near the front to prove his worth in combat, without a certain black dragon to have his back.**

 **/.../**

 **Anyway, for all interested, TMFB will be hopefully updated on Monday coming.**

Stoick cast his eyes down the hill in front of him and over the medium sized town the foreign men had escorted himself, Spitelout and Hiccup to, the centre of the town was a small area protected by high stone walls, the fortification lacked many features that were common with medieval castles such as flanking towers or advanced gatehouse's, however as basic as it may be it was still the first time Stoick had seen such a fortified building and he was wary of it. The immediate area surrounding the walled fortification was littered with more traditional wooden houses, and the fields past the houses were filled with dead crops, much like those on Berk, causing the Viking chief to ponder just how widespread the snow storm that eradicated his own crops was. With a bit of an unsatisfied grunt at the view in front of him, Stoick turned to Hiccup and asked, "Are you sure you want to go through with this?" The Viking did not want to say too much and stayed vauge, even though he knew the probability of the foreigners understanding Norse is almost 0 he did not feel safe speaking so openly in front of them for the small chance that they could.

Hiccup inspected the town that lay a few hundred feet from a river, what had him most curious was why the town was not built on the river, surely this would be the logical position for such a town? Although the more he thought about it the more he realised the town was built on some slightly higher ground, with some frowning and rubbing of his stubble he concluded the flat between the town and the river was likely a flood plane and thus not a good place to build a town. With the foreigners getting a little impatient Hiccup eventually nodded to his father. "Yes, stay here and scout this area out, if I am not out by sun's apex you know where to find me."

Stoick did not like the idea that Hiccup was going to be entering the town alone and without any backup but he grunted in acknowledgement that he would burn the entire town to the ground if he even suspected the slightest harm had come to his son. "Then I shall see you soon, Odin willing it." With nothing more than a nod to his father and a pat on the upper arm, Hiccup left for the town.

Fortunately for Hiccup, and the town, he was treated well by his oppositions leaders and was allowed to leave by the time the sun came to its apex in the sky. Reaching his father on top of the hill overlooking the town Hiccup patted him reassuringly once more on the upper arm, then turned to look at the town for a few seconds before starting to journey back to the longboats. "Well?" Asked Stoick as they walked, he was curious and excited about what news his son had.

"I got what I came for," Hiccup replied, not really telling his father much.

"So you met their leaders?"

"Yes and no." The younger Viking responded. "I met this region's leader, but not the one pulling his strings."

Stoick rubbed his beard in thought, he had many ideas about what this meant but he wanted to know his sons' thoughts. "So?"

"So..." Hiccup started in response. "I now know who to dispose of and the consequences of doing so. When we eliminate this Agmund we will have an initial free run of this area with little to no opposition for a week, maybe two at best, but then we should expect reinforcements from other regions that operate under the same banner as this place."

"So we get what we can before the reinforcements arrive and then get out?"

"Exactly." Hiccup nodded, he knew that when the reinforcements came they would come with numbers that he could not match without the firepower of his scaled friends, and since he was not yet willing to show off his winged friends to this part of the world a retreat was the only logical move. "Depending on how much food we get, I will make my decision on what we do from there."

When the group returned to where the Vikings had set up their fortifications Hiccup and the others were surrounded by curious Vikings, each wanting to know what news they had. "Come on then, tell us."

It took a while but Hiccup eventually managed to get them to stop squabbling and listen to what he had to say. "There is likely spies in the woods watching us now, bring them to me unharmed and then you will find out what I have planned."

There was barely a moment for the deal to register with the Vikings before they set off to find the spies, each and every one of them was excited at the prospect of coming across a spy and actually seeing some action. Eventually, the spies who were watching every movement of the Vikings were chased down and dragged in front of Hiccup, with only one spy unwilling to co-operate killed.

"Stip them of their clothes, but do not tear the clothes." Hiccup demanded and soon he had three naked men kneeling before him. Getting the clothes Hiccup gauged their size before requesting the presence of three men. "Gustav, Torstein, Bjork." He called and they came, anxious to see what he had in store for them.

"Put these on." He passed the men the clothes and they looked at him dumbfounded.

"Well, don't just stand there." Laughed Stoick when the men continued to silently question the command.

When the three men changed clothes Hiccup looked them over, other than requiring a shave they could pass as locals, more or less. "Shave your face to a long stubble." He then instructed to the men's mortification. Vikings spent a lot of time grooming and stylising their hair and facial hair, so for Hiccup to ask them to shave was to ask them to throw away hours of work. "The locals we have seen look less groomed than ourselves, and you three will need to pass as locals, so get shaving." Hiccup then stated, hoping the news they were going to be infiltrating the enemy town would raise their spirits.

When the men left to shave their faces Hiccup consulted with his father, Spitelout and Gobber. "What is your plan son?" Asked stoick.

"Yeah, what's with those three mugs?" Spitelout who was lazily leaning on a thin tree gestured with a thumb to the three men that just passed him dressed in local clothes, they looked rather downcast in his opinion, not that he cared.

"I will get to them later." Hiccup stated as he moved to sit down near a fire which had some chicken legs cooking over it. "What is important now is the fact tonight we lay siege to that stone-walled building."

"Alright." Spitelout crossed his arms and stood from leaning against the tree. "Should we assume you have a grand plan?"

"As always. To put it simply, we are going to scale those walls and kill their leader."

"And how do we simply scale those walls, they must be 20 foot high." Spitelout knew that if Hiccup wanted to scale the walls then he must have a plan, so his comment was not to question their ability to scale the walls but to find out just how the man was going to do it.

"True, they are tall but that does not mean they can not be conquered, or used to our advantage." By the time Hiccup had finished explaining his plan Gustav, Torstein, and Bjork returned, looking rather miserable. "Cheer up." He told them after inspecting their new facial hair. "You have an important task ahead."

/.../

 **Later that day**

Hiccup looked down at the town, it was currently in the middle of the night and the town was the only source of light for miles around, not even the moon and stars blessed them with their light this night, which was a shame, for surely the gods would want to watch this battle unfurl. Happy that it was dark enough he turned to his men and nodded, they were all dressed in charcoal black armour, making them all practically invisible to the naked eye.

Taking the lead Hiccup approached the town from the rear and on the flood plain where it was the least occupied, meaning the chances of them being spotted by somewhen when in close proximity to the stone walled fortification was minimised . The closer they got the more careful Hiccup and his team was since the fortification had a few men walking its walls and keeping guard. If any one of these men spotted them, despite how unlikely in their dark armour, then the plan would surely fail. When they were no more than 30 foot from the wall Hiccup stopped the group from approaching with a small hand gesture and with another he and two others raised a large stick that had been carefully hollowed out to allow a thin dart to pass through. The darts Hiccup and two others were using had been soaked in a concentrated concoction of the paralysing poison of speed stingers, the effects of the poison is almost instant, with the poor sod infected only given enough time to feel the sting of the dart before its powerful effect takes hold.

Since the top of the wall used fires to light up the area, a design oversight in Hiccups opinion, the Vikings could see two guards walking the wall, and Hiccup waited till they stopped and faced outwards to shoot them where their skin was exposed, because if they were hit by the dart when walking then they would appear very odd to any looking at them since they would appear frozen mid-step. With the two guards at the rear of the fortification disabled the Vikings silently approached the wall, three of them had been carrying a crude ladder, and with the ladder against the wall, one by one the Vikings started to climb up it.

As the first Viking up the ladder was about to climb over the top of the wall Hiccup felt his blood freeze when a new guard started to walk along the wall, but fortunately, a Viking who was capable of using the blow darts was paying attention and quickly darted the man, saving the mission from guaranteed failure, as all it would take is one man to scream bloody murder for the entire village to know they were in town. It did not take long for all the Vikings to get on top of the wall and soon they could carry out the next part of the mission. Moving through the fortification they eliminated anyone in their way, guards, women and children as silently as possible, and because Hiccup brought only the most experienced warriors with him they moved quickly and effectively, soon they had moved through the fortification and Spitelout found their target, Agmund. After informing Hiccup of his death and eliminating the remaining non-vikings in the fortification the group moved on to their next objective. Getting to the gatehouse they tried to figure out how to open the gate, but in the dark, this was easier said than done, although with a little bit of time and detective work they figured out its operation, allowing Hiccup and one other to go to the highest point of the fortification and light a flag before waving it in a very distinct pattern.

Seeing the signal Gustav, Torstein, and Bjork each ignited a stick that had its end covered with a generous portion of cavern crasher gel and they ran through an encampment filled with opposition soldiers, as they ran through the camp they ignited tents and anything else that could easily go up in flames, and since it had not rained in the last few days the tents were dry meaning it did not take long for the entire tent to become an intense ball of raging flames.

This was the mission Hiccup had assigned them because he had noticed during his visit to the town earlier in the day that men with weapons were arriving and setting up tents of various quality next to the fortification, and it was obvious to him that an impromptu army of ragtag men was being assembled, in all likelihood to combat himself.

While some of the men were guaranteed to escape their tents what they were not then guaranteed to escape is the horde of bloodthirsty Vikings who had started their charge towards the town the moment Hiccup started to wave the flag.


	4. Chapter 4

**RR**

 **Noctus  
** **I've got to thank you for your review and siege examples, I did not know about many of them if I was honest and I've had a lot of interesting material to read thanks to you.**

 **Also I'm thinking this will be Hicc-anna, the reason being the politics behind a king and queen marrying is / will be messy and complicated. Thanks again for your time to review, and if you have any other good seiges like those please do let me know, I may be needing a few other interesting examples soon.**

 **Seps T-Ard  
Your welcome, and thanks for the review!**

 **Guest  
If I understand your review right, I accept the challenge to find a way for Hiccup to take them on, but do not expect to see much magic in this story.**

 **Kuma Dzurui  
If you are hearing Ragnar I am getting something right. I'm trying to make Hiccup a little something like Ragnar in season 1-2, not when he starts to go off the rails in the later seasons. (Also Vikings is my favourite tv series, been loving the latest series)**

 **Tasia,  
Yeah, this is the stuff I like writing, maybe it's cos I'm a sadist but this simply entertains me more, also your hitting the right sort of tunes with Anna being something to be bartered and the feistiness of her, in fact I think if you did this story we would probably write the exact same thing from the sounds of your review. Also the snake was just the dude from last chapter, but there are other snakes to kill.**

 **The-Real-Dragon-Dude  
Thanks for the review, and I will!**

 **One week later**

Stoick rested one of his large hands on his son's shoulders, all the long boats except one had set sail for Viking territory; their decks crammed full with plunder and riches. "Well, son..." Stoick talked with pride in his voice, after all, what Viking father would not be proud of a son who could successfully pull off a raid, "Congratulations on your first raid, and Odin willing, may this be just the first of many."

Hiccup nodded silently, he had done things, horrible things on this raid; he had bulldozed through these foreign lands like a raging Nightmare, killing anything and everything in his wake, taking whatever he fancied as victories of war, and worst of all he may have secretly enjoyed the challenge this raid posed. "Odin willing." Turning from watching the long boats already sailing for Berk he looked up the beach and to where the last few Vikings he was to sail with were packing up the last of their kit, they looked grateful to be returning to Berk, yet Hiccup suspected he was about to ruin a few people's day. "Father, I am not returning, not yet."

"What!?" Stoick's surprise at his son's admission was portrayed by his voice almost going higher in pitch, not that Stoick would ever admit it. "What y'mean you're not returning?"

"We have taken many riches and much food, but we will need to return,"

"And?"

"And they will be prepared for our return, so I plan on staying to observe their reinforcements, I wish to learn about their capabilities, and comprehend their methods."

Stoick pulled his thick red beard through his hands, he knew his son could be as stubborn if not more so than himself; it was one of the few traits his son had gained from his genes, so he knew arguing for his son to return would be a futile waste of energy. "If this is what you truly wish then I shall allow it, but I will need you to understand one thing, winter is coming and with it the anger of Ægir, I can not declare when I will return with certainty."

Hiccup understood this, for every real Viking knew the wrath of Ægir is unpredictable and furious in nature, "I know, just make sure you do."

 **1 month later**

"Not good enough!" Lord Aksel rebuked as he slammed his hand down heavily on the table before him. "Have you seen what lies in their wake? I invite you, all of you," He pointed around the room and to various lords and people of power, a move that could be seen as bold, or an action made by someone backed into a corner and forced to bite. "...to come and see what is left, and maybe then you will reconsider."

The most powerful man in the room, King Bjoern, put the apple he is eating down lazily before sighing heavily and saying. "Tell me Lord Eirik, what is to say these brutes will re-emerge from whatever cesspit they are hiding in? And if they do return, could they not equally arrive on the shores defended by Lord Jarl as to your own?"

"But..."

A single hand silenced Lord Aksel, despite how much he wanted to argue even he dared not defy the king in such a manner, "...you will receive the reinforcements promised, and not one man more. For the rest of you, we have no guarantee these barbarians will not return, bolster your forces as appropriate and make plans where necessary." The king then stood from his luxurious fur coated chair, telling those in the room that he had made his final decision on the topic and those were his last words regarding it.

/.../

 **64 days later**

Stoick stood tall on his long boat's bow, the ship being instantly recognisable as Berk's flagship by Jörmungandr, a great dragon in Norse mythology that's length allowed it to wrap around the world, being carved into its wood and standing forever guard on the bow. It had been a long time since Stoick had seen his son and he was impatient to meet him once more. Turning to look over his shoulder he bellowed the words many Vikings on his boat had been waiting to hear. "Prepare to beach!" The command notified the people who are rowing to row harder, and those not rowing to brace themselves for when the boat collides with the sand banks of the shore hidden from view by the murky water.

The moment the ship hit the sand bank Stoick jumped down from the boat's bow and waded through the water till he met his son and pulled him into a tight embrace. "Son!" He laughed heartedly. "It is good to see you!"

"Yes!" Hiccup laughed as he tried to pull away. "It is, I see you brought a few tag-ons."

"A few?" Questioned stoick with a laugh as he turned to face the Viking armada preparing to beach. "I bring five thousand of our finest warriors, and you claim I bring tag-on's? One would think you are ungrateful."

"And one would have the wrong impression, for I will need every one of them."

Stoick instantly liked what he heard. "Grand plans await then? I can not wait for you to shed some light!"

From the almost sinister laugh released by Snotlout Stoick became giddy and almost demanded Hiccup to tell him here and now, for surely it would make the gods smile down upon them and the divine halls of Valhalla squabble with talk of their engagements.

"You have waited 98 days; you can wait a little longer." Hiccup replied before he started to wade into the water. "But first, we need to head inland, help me unbeach this boat for we must head south and to the river."

After travelling south for half a day the Vikings came across a wide river mouth, and Hiccup took them up the river, only stopping to beach 500 or so meters from a large stone walled castle, but before they could get on land they had an obstacle to overcome.

Stoick grasped his shield from the side of the longboat in preparation. "I see we have a welcome party." He commented with cheer in his voice.

"Yes." Hiccup agreed as he picked up his own shield, the front being painted with a simple image of a Monstrous Nightmare, the idea being the image would call on the gods to protect him in battle. Turning to his comrades on the boat he shouted a command "Raise shields," and without further ado the 50 Vikings not rowing raised their shields in such a manner that all onboard the boat were protected.

As they got closer to the river bank arrows started to rain down upon them, but under the shield wall, the Vikings were safe. Giving it a minute Stoick then bellowed an order. "Beaching speed."

It was a heart-pounding minute till the boat collided with the river bank and then everything seemed to move in slow motion as the Vikings broke the shield wall and vaulted the sides of the vessel. After scrambling onto dry land, Hiccup joined the Viking shield wall that had already formed and peered through a small gap in the wall; the hole allowed him to see the two hundred or so men that had been waiting for them.

The shield wall held off the arrows and spears hurled at them for a short time till Hiccup give the order, "Advance!"

Soon the 300 or so Vikings on land broke from the shield wall and charged with the local opposition, and the Vikings did what they did best, slaughter. With the battle over Hiccup pulled a hand down his face to remove some of the blood and turned his attention to a small settlement built a few hundred yards off a small city. Seeing people flee from the village and to within the city's high stone walls he knew what needed to be done, sending a knowing nod to his father he instructed the Vikings to take the unprotected village.

/.../

 **Numerous hours later**

Hiccup was sat around a large fire with many other Vikings as they rejoiced in their day's victories. "What I don't understand..." Mulch who is to Hiccups right started, "Is why did they send two hundred against our thousands?"

Hiccup decided to speak up, even though the man is not asking himself. "Because their sacrifice slowed us down, allowing the majority of the people from this town to flee to the stone wall city."

"Huh," Mulch responded while scratching his head, "Makes sense, I guess."

The Chief of Berk, not caring for Mulch's conversation with Hiccup spoke up, "Son, it has been a good day, but I wish to make it great, tell us, what are we to do here?"

Hiccup turned to the left and faced his father, "When you returned to Berk I spent my days wandering these lands., I've learned a lot about this place, and one thing I can tell you is that villages like this have many riches, but a town like that?" He pointed to the stone walled city not far from their location "We could fill a thousand long boats with food and bathe in troughs a man deep filled with gold."

Stoick subconsciously dragged a hand through his thick beard, "And how do we get our riches?"

"That is the complicated bit." Admitted Hiccup, "So I shall tell you tomorrow when we will remember the conversation,"

"What are you suggesting lad?" Asked Stoick with a laugh, "Do you dare suggest I am inebriated?"

"I do."

Stoick give his son a mischevious chuckle before standing up, he swayed a little as he stood but for how much the man had drunk, he stood impressively well. "People," He shouted across the field with a voice loud enough to be heard by most Vikings, "This little brat thinks I am pissed,"

This statement garnered the obviously drunk chief a laugh, anyone who knew stoick knew of his love for anything alcoholic. "Now I can not let this go unpunished, can I? Hiccup, stand."

Hiccup rolled his eyes before standing, knowing from how his father was speaking that not doing so would be ignoring the wishes of his chief and not his father. "Your punishment son," Stoick wrapped his arm around Hiccup's shoulders and pulled him close, "Is that you are our new commander in chief." This caused a small commotion among the Vikings, which Stoick silenced by saying "Well, drink to your new chief," and the Vikings did just that.

Sitting down a short time later once the congratulations from well-wishers dried up Hiccup asked his father, "Why did you do that?"

"Because son, did you think I would forget the promise to make you chief on the success of our first raid?"

Hiccup shook his head, "No, but I was under the impression it was when I returned to Berk."

"Well, with you staying here after our last visit I had to change things up." Stoick replied casually, "But had your mother been alive then I would have waited, for I would have rathered faced an entire horde of enraged Nightmares than your birth mother, had I ascended you to chiefdom without her being present."

"Tell me about her."

"Her beauty challenged that of Sif," Sighed stoick as he thought about his late wife,"And maybe that is why the gods took her, but if you want to know her, what she was truly like, just look at yourself, you two work the same up here." Stoick tapped his head before standing and approaching the fire, only to pull his pants down and relieve himself. Returning to Hiccup after he had finished Stoick did not sit down; instead, he said, "Now I am going to find one of the finer takings and pass out, good night son."

"Be careful she doesn't throttle you in your sleep." Hiccup called after his father, concerned for his wellbeing.

/.../

 **Meanwhile**

Lord Jarl sat leant over a table as he pulled at his hair, a nervous habit he had acquired as a child and failed to stop. "My Lord," A voice pulled the man out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" He demanded of his cities defence minister. "What have you to say?"

"We have secured all points of entry, and I have personally taken count of our resources, I predict we can withstand a siege for five months before we will sub come to starvation."

"Good good," The Lord replied in haste, "And how long till we can expect reinforcements?"

The defence minister took a deep breath in from his nose before saying, "Assuming our riders arrive at their destinations in a timely manner, Lord Ivar can be here with 1000 men within a week, Eirik a few days later with 2000 and Aksel in two weeks if he can get his men assembled. Should we require reinforcements from the King we should expect a delay of 3 months, minimum."

"I see." responded Jarl, "So we have nothing to worry about."

"Worrying will only serve to work against us by clouding our judgement, so instead, I suggest we celebrate the fact we have an opportunity to rid the world of these scoundrels."

The Lord thought on this for a moment before agreeing with the minister. "Yes, this is a fantastic idea. Spread the word, for tomorrow I want celebrations on every street."

/.../


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, an early update, primarily so I can respond to Noctus.**

 **God Dragon King:  
Glad to hear you are enjoying it, and I hope you like this chap! cheers for the review!**

 **Noctus:  
I pondered on how many men I should have for the majority of the time taken to write the last chapter; I needed enough for Hiccup to put a small-medium sized city under siege, yet not so many it was unbelievable. I also did the numbers, in HTTYD we see Stoick going to dragon island at the end of the film with a minimum of 28 ships,**

 **If we do the numbers for the smallest type of Viking war vessel, a Snekkja, this turns out at ~1148 men and if it is the largest type of Viking war Vessel, a Skied, this could be as many as ~2,240 men. And from a few scenes in httyd1 I would bet the ships are mostly the larger type, and if you look at the beach on dragons island, in a few scenes its filled with from the looks of things thousands of men. (Obviously I'm ignoring the entire fact the ships in httyd are wrong, with no row seats or anything so... yeah)**

 **Also If Berk has conquered numerous tribes, (Currently Berskers, Meat-heads, outcasts, lavalouts, possibly the bogs too), each capable of providing a simmilar number of men, then its not hard to see how they could go raiding with 5k men, especially when we consider all the Viking farmers are currently out of a job due to someone in particular...So I think the number is some what reasonable.**

 **Also darnit, I how did I mess up lord and jarl, that is my rubbish note taking for you haha, and I am basing King Bjoern very loosely on King Håkon V (As a part of T &C's of this site I'm not allowed to use real people) who abolished the Lendman institution in the very early 1300's, and I think to keep this story somewhat feesible despite my earlier assertation that it was going to be in the early 15th century this story is set shortly after this abolishment as I've discovered firearms were used by the ottoman empire's regular inf in the late 15th century. I don't think this change of date will affect anything too much**

 **Another thing too, you and I have thought similar things about the knock off effects of Elsa's powers being discovered, so you can probably guess what will eventually happen in this story if it ends in a political union.**

 **Finally, cheers for the review again, and I look forward to seeing what you can see wrong in this chapter, especially as to what your thoughts are regarding a weapon I've invented for this universe.**

 **/.../**

 **Fun fact, The 'Berserkers' did not get the name from being 'beserk'. The word 'Berserker' originates from the Norse words** **ber-serkr, which effectively means 'bear-shirt' (Berserkers were known to wear wolf pelts / bear skins into a battle .)**

 **Siege Day 2**

"Ah, so I see you found your toys," Gobber quipped as he approached Hiccup from behind.

The new chief turned to face Berk's most famous and trusty blacksmith, "Thank-you for remembering to bring them."

Gobber begun to chuckle as he took a seat on the side of the longboat, "You didn't think this old dog would forget now, did you?"

Before Gobber returned to Berk after the previous raid, Hiccup had asked him to come back with a very specific list of items. "Not in the least," Hiccup replied to Gobber as he stood up from inspecting a hefty clay keg he had brought with him. "How are things progressing in camp?" He then asked.

Gobber wafted a hand in a dismissive motion, "As well as one could hope."

With a nod, Hiccup picked up the barrel like keg he was inspecting and left the long boat, he carried the ceramic cask a hundred or so meters and into a nearby wood, so that he was completely out of sight from the castle and any other prying eyes. Putting the clay barrel down he took a moment's rest to gather his strength and judge a tree's height, with his breath returned he tied a few ropes around his waist, and begun climbing said tree, hauling the keg up with him to the highest branch that would support their weight. Looking down from his vantage point up the tree Hiccup judged his distance above the ground to be satisfactory, so he dropped the pot, and the sight of a thick green cloud emerging from the container when the ceramic smashed on the ground pleased him immensely. He waited up the tree till the green fog dissipated and then he climbed down when it is safe to do so. "Well then," Gobber spoke for the first time in a while, "Are y'happy?"

Hiccup placed a hand momentarily on Gobber's shoulder before walking away, to say Hiccup is happy with his latest weapon is an understatement. Hiccup had feared after such a long voyage on the open seas the gas would escape through the filling ports or cracks in the pots, yet as his latest test proved his fears were for nothing.

Leaving the woods, Hiccup moved among the camp his Vikings had established, despite how intoxicated many of them were last night, nearly every one of them was working today, and it pleased him to see them doing something constructive with their time instead of drinking into a stupor. Walking to one part of the camp he looked at the work the Viking's were doing before shaking his head, "No," He told them before explaining, "The shaft needs to be shorter."

This statement caused a few frustrated sighs by the men working, for had he demanded the spears be longer then their last few hours of work will have been for nothing.

Hiccup inspected the rest of the construction projects before finding his father who was nursing a sore head, "Afternoon," Hiccup greeted before sitting down on a fallen tree near him and gesturing to some chicken legs sizzling over a fire, "May I?"

Stoick nodded his head, "I've had my share already." He grumbled before asking, "So then, what are the plans for the rest of the day?"

"I will show you, but first food." After eating Hiccup left his father momentarily before returning with a piece of cloth. "I took this from the very first village we raided," He informed his father as he carefully laid it out on the floor. "It shows all the vital points in this region we need to control."

"It does?" Asked Stoick as he studied the cloth, which clearly had a crude map woven into it.

"It does." Hiccup confirmed, "Today we have three tasks to complete, of which the first is already underway." The dragon rider tapped the map at a vital river crossing, "I sent Spitelout with a party of two hundred to destroy a bridge here and secure this crossing, they should be arriving at the bridge any time now."

From the map Stoick could see the importance of ensuring control over the river crossing, for whoever did not have control of the crossing would need to march countless miles out of their way just to cross the river, essentially meaning Hiccup ensured reinforcements from the North would arrive far later than they should, and exhausted from days of marching.

"And our second task?"

"Your task," Hiccup replied, emphasising the 'your', "Is to take another two hundred of our men and see what supplies you can gather from these villages," Once more Hiccup tapped the map, giving Stoick a clear picture of where he is to go. "You leave when you are ready," Stoick gives an understanding nod. "The final task is making sure no one crosses this bridge," Hiccup pointed to a bridge, but instead of pointing at a map he pointed to the bridge defended by the castle he had put under siege.

"I see," Stoick commented before standing and picking up his battle-tested Gokstad styled shield, and despite the shield being considered overly large by many, in Stoick's hands, it appears normal in size. "Then we both have things to do,"

"Indeed we do."

 **Sunset**

The bridge Hiccup needed to make sure no one could cross is constructed mostly from rock, but for whatever reason, large sections of the bridge had obviously collapsed over time and is now constructed from wood. Anyone with an engineering mind knew it would not take much for the wooden parts of the bridge to collapse, and in Hiccup's opinion, it is a serious design oversite as it allowes him to permanently cut off one of the castle's access points with little to no ease.

Throughout the day he had his men collect as much rope as they could gather, and now the sun is falling below the horizon he set his plan into motion. Wrapping some of the rope gathered around two men who could swim he sent them into the river, and when they arrived at the wooden segments of the bridge under the protection of night, they pulled the slack of their rope, dragging numerous steel hooks from land and through the water. To cross the water without the hooks sinking to the bottom of the river and snagging they had been attached to wooden logs, the idea being that they would then float across the top of the water.

With 6 hooks secured and the slack taken off the lines Hiccup had numerous men and two horses pull on the rope till the wood segments of the bridge snapped. With all but one of the six lines snapping their intended wooden beams the lumber section of the bridge fell into the river, creating a 20-meter gap that would need severe construction work to bridge.

Happy with the days work Hiccup retreated to the Viking camp and joined his Vikings in party, a nearby monastery that had been raided earlier in the day had provided the Vikings with plenty of wine, which they were more than happy to divulge in.

/.../

 **Seige Day 3**

Hiccup lined up a hundred or so Vikings directly in front of him, "Listen up," He called to them in a loud voice, "On the ground in front of you there is a spear, pick it up." The Viking chief allowed them a minute to pick up the sharpened sticks and familiarise themselves with the weight and length. While Vikings commonly use spears, the ones they traditionally use are for killing dragons, so have a reach far greater than traditional spears commonly found elsewhere.

"If The people of these lands ride beasts like this...," Hiccup pointed to a large horse the Vikings had acquired over the last few days, "...Into battle, your job is to make sure they do not breach our lines." While historically the Norweigan army preferred infantry, this does not mean they did not have or use heavy cavalry.

Hiccup then pulled two of the Vikings in the line out and made one kneel with the second standing, just behind in a supportive stance. "When instructed, the front line needs to raise their spear so that the point is at head height," He then nudged the man kneeled to do as told, "The second man at the same time raises their spear so that it is a meter higher." This is to prevent the horses from jumping over the first spears. "Now this is important so listen well; you must dig the butt end of your spear into Midgard, so that it takes the impact of the horse."

And with the simple instructions on how to defend their lines from horse charges engrained in their brains Hiccup sent the Vikings to do something productive while he taught another 100, this continued till everyone in the camp knew just how to protect themselves from a potential heavy cavalry attack.

By mid afternoon everyone in the camp was trained, and Hiccup took to watching the castle, it is a grand construct that surely must be a central point of commerce for this region. Hiccup believed that even if his men broke through the walls, they would not be able to carry everything they found out, for there would simply be too much of it. As he watched the castle, he found himself pondering as to why he is attacking it, yes it held everything his people would need to survive the harsh winter that is coming but raiding enough towns would deliver the same result, with less bloodshed on his own people's half.

With a frown and shake of his head, he dismissed the idea that attacking the castle is a bad idea. By now the news of his people's arrival will have spread far and wide, and people will have started to flee, meaning he would only be playing a game of dragon and boar as he chased down the fleeing locals, and this would leave his most valuable asset, his boats, largely unprotected.

The next few days passed uneventfully, with the only thing of interest occurring being Stoick's triumphant return from his raids. According to Stoick the people had packed bags and fled, taking with them whatever they could carry, but that did not mean they could take everything, Stoick still managed to gather a lot of food and resources from the villages.

Another week passed with nothing worthy of mentioning, but finally, almost two weeks after arriving Hiccup got some news he was waiting on. "So they are gathering here?" Hiccup pointed to his map, and one of his scouts nodded.

"Yes, currently with an army of 1,000, maybe more."

Hiccup rubbed his stubbled jaw some before nodding and sitting down with the scout. "Tell me about this army, what are they wearing?"

"Wearing?" Asked the scout in a confused voice, not understanding the question.

"Yes." Hiccup replied, "Were they wearing the same coloured clothes, do they bear an insignia on their shields, tell me anything you can about their appearences" If they are in uniform or armour then Hiccup would know the army is constructed of professionals, if dressed randomly, then he knows they are likely a militia.

"No," The scout replied initially. "Nothing to link the most of them, only a rare few are in chainmail and supporting identical shields."

The fact the majority of the men are dressed randomly is good news for the Viking chief, meaning the amassed army is a militia of rag-tags and bobtails, and while this army is dangerous he believed they would prove to be no match for his battle-hardened Vikings.

"Any horses?"

"A few, mostly pulling carts."

Hiccup expected as much, "I see," Hiccup thought for a few moments before asking, "And what is the terrain like, is it a wood, is it farm land, is it a...?"

"A small village in the middle of farmland,"

"I see." The Viking commented, a plan forming in his head. "You have done good work, now go claim a tankard of wine."

/.../

 **Late Evening**

Hiccup had gathered 750 of his finest warriors after talking with his scout and walked to the village, and now with the village firmly in his sight he faced down his foes, the sun at his back and nearing the horizon. He had only taken 750 men as he feared the opposition would run and rendezvous elsewhere had he taken anymore.

Because he is outnumbered Hiccup had brought with him many warriors from the Bear-shirt tribe, and now facing their enemy which outnumbers them by 250 heads he is glad he did, on their walk to the village the Bear-shirts consumed mind-altering plants and stripped so that they are wearing nothing but wolf pelts. With the mind altering drugs now in their system the frenzied warriors bit their shields and weapons in an animalistic manner and howled skywards like beasts of the night, their behaviour petrified many of his own tribesmen, not that they would admit it, so he could only imagine what the locals must have been thinking.

Stoick seeing their opposition cower behind shields and move in a nervous fashion laughed, he had initially thought Hiccups plan of attacking with only 750 men to be a means to reach Valhalla sooner than intended, but now he was glad Hiccup decided to only bring 750 men, for their opposition barely seemed like they could hold their weapons, never mind use them to any effect.

After eyeing his opponents and making sure they are not trained soldiers he called to his warriors, "Remember," Hiccup bellowed so his troops could hear him, "He who kills the man on the horse will be paid his weight in wine and food." The man on the horse being the opposition's leader.

The battle was swift, the local army being nothing more than a militia failed to hold their lines and proved to be no match for the Vikings, and while Hiccup could have allowed his Vikings to slaughter them all, he allowed a few to escape. He hoped that those who fled would spread the story of how they were slaughtered by so few, he wanted his men feared and famed for their capabilities in battle, as he knew this would mess with the minds of his future opponents.

With the army all but defeated Hiccup took what warriors he had remaining and raided the village, and between the supplies stolen from the village and those taken from the crushed army, he had enough resources to feed his invasion force for a week.

/.../

 **Cheers for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**EDIT: Ooops, initially uploaded a draft, my bad. Alot of spelling mistakes and the like should have just been magically fixed**

 **Alrighty guys, thought it was about time to update this. Despite wanting to have a realistic view on things I am taking a little liberty with what weapons Hiccup could come up with having lived his life around dragons. If the weapon that features in this chapter takes things a bit too far then do let me know, but I think it's still in line personally as it is certainly something Hiccup would have been able to make back then.**

 **RR**

 **Noctus  
** **Yeah, I had considered the consequences of taking such a large army, that is why in the first few chapters they were mobile a lot, chasing after people and never in the same spot for too long, and in this chapter they are staying in one spot with small divisions taking off for resources. The idea of how Berk conquered the other tribes is I'm hoping slightly realistic for how it played out, (We get a glimpse this chapter) It was basically show up with a large force of dragon riders and say, kiss ma feet. Also I'm changing berks structure up a bit, while I appreciate the idea of small tribes, I think back then if they were defending from violent dragons then the towns would have been much larger than traditional tribes as they band together, the idea really being an army of ants can take down an elephant (Yet to see this happen, would be curious if it's actually possible). So yes, I admit Hiccup really would be a king in the sense of how many people he would rule over, yet I HATE the idea of calling Hiccup a king, (It's why in TMFB I have him insisting he is just a chief). So chief in his own words, king in ours.**

 **For the ships, I think you might have misread, so each ship is carrying ~80 people, give or take a few. And to be honest, I never even imagined a Viking ship could be big enough for 500 people yet alone 1000's. Another interesting thing too, I can imagine the Vikings of HTTYD universe would have changed the ships up to protect more from random walls of fire shot at them, just an interesting tidbit I might look more into in the future, and like TMFB in this universe I have Vikings unaccustomed to Horses.**

 **And Yuup, as much as Berserkers are odd, they are an awesome bunch, I'm debating about making a division known as the _Úlfhéðnar_** **(I know** its **another name for** beserkers **) who just take things to another level, and have Dager involved with them. And trust me, they will become a pain for Hiccup.**

 **We will also see archery but not yet, my personal opinion about archery for HTTYD Vikings would be that it is untraditional. I think I've stated before in TMFB that to down a dragon, they would either need a lot of slow heavy archers, or fewer rapid firing archers, this is because of accuracy and the likes. Its for the same reason we use birdshot for bird hunting / clay disk shooting, and why THAAD uses so many missiles. I'm toying around with a solution to this, but it's not developed enough yet to bring it to the table.**

 **My other weapon I'm bringing to the table this chapter though, it does seem to make the Vikings overpowered as hell, but my solution to this is simply give the Vikings a limited quantity of the weapon, after all they can only restock when they return to Berk, and if/when they bring dragons to the table then they are going to be virtually unstoppable anyway.**

 **Anyway, cheers for the long indepth review, I enjoy these back and forths, trying to explain my logic.**

There is little Vikings love to do more than sit around a roaring fire with a hollowed out yak horn filled to the brim with ale in hand and boast of their prowess in combat, especially in the immediate hours after a battle in which they saw a crushing victory.

Leaning back on the fallen tree Hiccup has taken to sitting on he called, "How is it?"

He called to a few Vikings who are yet to party and applying the finishing touches to a siege machine, the design being similar to the device Hiccup used to shoot down his first dragon, just with a bit more oomph in the mechanisms used to propel the load. "Why don't you come and find out!" Gobber responded rather miserably; he wanted to drink too!

Hiccup just wafted him off with a slight hand movement and went back to drinking, and Gobber rolled his eyes as he pulled using all his mass with a few other men to spring a load, he would let Hiccup and the others to their celebrations, it was the least he could do after the day's work.

After a while of heaving the war machines counterweight locked into place, and Gobber called over to Hiccup, "It is ready."

Hiccup turned gladly from hearing a poet recite the days battle for the hundredth time, while he was sick of hearing the story it turned out Stoick wanted to hear it again and again, and no poet would dare deny a drunk Stoick the story, for fear of death. Leaning over Hiccup picked up something by what looked like a rope and carried it over to the war machine, yet getting to the machine it quickly became evident the rope is human hair, and it is connected to a head separated from its body by the neck. Placing the head in the war machines sling Hiccup then nodded to a fellow Viking and the engine launched the head at breakneck speeds, sending the head flying just shy of a thousand foot and into the castle.

Seeing the head disappear behind the walls a few Vikings cheered and laughed among one another before they continued to party.

/.../

Lord Jarl paled at the seeing the head, he recognised it as belonging to an experienced man who knew a thing or two about battle, but more importantly, he identified it as someone who should have come with reinforcements, not at the hands of Vikings and without a body.

So far this siege had been unpredictable, while the Vikings had done one or two predictable things, such as construct war machines, bunkered down with fortifications of their own and destroyed the vulnerable bridge, they had not yet made a single approach on the castle."What is there long game?" He wondered out loud. "Do they plan to scare us into submission?"

While this comment was made in mock, the more he thought about it, the more he considered its possibility, the Vikings, while here in great number, are still a little short on the numbers required to mount a full siege, and every man lost would be certainly felt by their commander.

With this in mind he ordered the head to be buried respectfully, yet discretely, he could not have news of such a wise and respected generals demise reaching the public, even if the man had been retired from traditional service for numerous years now.

/.../

 **Two weeks later**

It was two long and boring weeks till the news of more reinforcements came, yet this time Hiccup knew he would need to mobilise a large force and hit it head on for any chance to claim victory. Leaving 500 men behind to defend the boats nearly 4200 marched for half a day till Hiccup stopped them on top of an embankment, the land surrounding them entirely flat with most trees having been removed. Bending down Hiccup felt the earth between his fingers, the soil being slightly damp and soft to the touch, having followed his father for a long time and visiting farms back on Berk he knew the land would make good farmland. Standing back up a few moments later Hiccup nodded to his father, "This is the spot."

Hearing his son Stoick nodded in agreement and turned to the various Viking commanders. "This is where we make our stand, get your men ready."

When their opposing army arrived they did so early in the evening, the sun would only be above the horizon for a few more precious hours. Moving to the front of his lines Hiccup looked over his opposition; many men lacked a uniform, but they all held shields that broadcasted their allegiance. It is clear to Hiccup that the force before him is no militia, but he is not convinced that they are full-time soldiers either. As Hiccup considered his enemy he noticed a group of ten or so men had moved ahead of the enemy forces front lines and had now stopped half way between their men and his. Taking the hint, Hiccup called to his father and the two started towards their opposition with eight Beserkers to accompany them, after all, he needed to make a good first impression.

"Why are you here?" Hiccup was asked upon his arrival by a short and mostly bald man, who is as wide around the stomach as he is tall - yet he is dressed in armour and carrying a sword and this amused Hiccup, the fat man wouldn't last a second in battle with a real Viking. Hiccup remained silent and Stoick, letting his son lead also kept a hold of his tongue; however, this is not to say much as the once great Viking Chief did not understand the foreign language. "Is it gold you want? What riches do you desire?"

Hiccup ignored this line of questioning, and instead replied with, "Turn your men around, and you can go free." Hiccup started with a threat because he knew his opposition was not going to simply hand him what he wanted since they had come with 3,000 more men than himself. If anyone looked at the numbers, it would be clear as day as to who should win the battle.

As Hiccup awaited his response he noticed the Beserkers were doing that they do best, intimidate. One of the Beserkers is in the face of an unarmed soldier, teeth chattering and eyes wide open as if a dragon had taken charge of his body, surveying their prey. A second Beserker is occasionally whooping like a madman, and a third is locked in a silent staredown with anyone who dared look him in the eyes while making almost swine like grunts, the others however, are a little more pacified yet no less intimidating. Eventually, Hiccup got a response that he anticipated and the two groups parted to ready their troops.

Arriving back to his own lines Hiccup immediately began to hunt for Gobber, who he found leant up against a machine he had been constructing earlier in the day, the same one from two weeks ago, "Are we ready?" Hiccup asked.

Gobber stood and turned to pat the machine behind him. "She's ready as she ever will be, just say the word."

"What about the second teams?"

Gobber once more nodded, "Aye, they're ready."

"Excellent, do not load the kegs till I give the command, and keep them protected at all times, a single damaged container could be our downfall."

Gobber snorted, "Aye I know laddy, you lecture me like I have not considered the consequences of your toys."

"Just making sure," Mused Hiccup before turning in time to see some arrows flying through the air, the arrows did not reach himself a few yards behind the front lines, but the front lines did get hit. Fortunately, most of the Vikings were smart enough to hide under a shield, only one Viking dared to stare down the arrows and unsurprisingly this was a Berserkers, what did surprise Hiccup however, is the fact the man was only hit in the shoulder, and either from downright brain damage or drugs he barely flinched.

One Hiccup emerged from behind his shield and assessed the arrows damage to his numbers he noticed the opposition's army had begun their march up the hill, and Hiccup nodded to Gobber and a team of men loaded a large cask into a war machine. Pulling another man aside Hiccup told him, "Release the bales a tad after we fire,"

When the man vanished to inform the others with other bales Hiccup waited till the opposing force is at a certain range from himself before nodding to Gobber, "Fire." Within seconds three large kegs flew in a parabola through the air and crashed into the earth a hundred or so meters down the hill. From Hiccups vantage point on top of the hill he could see the dark green gas released from the kegs cloud consume his oppositions men, he waited a moment and then the clouds light up in a raging fireball. The clouds were ignited by three small hay bales that were kindled behind his own lines and let loose to roll down the hill.

The moment the green clouds transformed into a raging inferno Hiccup give the command many Vikings had been waiting for, and in the opposition's confusion as to what just happened the Vikings hit like a herd of Yak, they stormed across the field slaughtering and killing anything that breathed, to any observer they would say it is a massacre.

The opposition's leader had never seen anything like it, well behind the front lines he had seen the majority of his men be consumed by the cloud and then the cloud blow them to pieces. What few men had not been absorbed by the cloud are now either blown to the floor from some invisible force or are wandering the field completely dazed. Not being able to see through the thick black smoke of what was once his men he began to tremble, yes he still had 1000 men with him, but even he knew 1000 men against 4000 is not a battle but a slaughter. Time seemed to stop for him when 4000 wild looking men broke from the cloud, charging towards his own like hounds bred for the hunt after their masters kill. Not knowing what to do the man tried to flee and abandoned his forces. Without someone in charge, and seeing their commander leave in a cowards manner, the 1000 that remained crumbled and fled themselves, only making themselves easy targets for the bloodthirsty Vikings.

Before anyone knew it, the battle is over with a decisive win for the Vikings.

/.../

Hiccup smiled as he felt another large hand slam down on his back in congratulations, the battle was a victory in every sense of the word. He and his men have defeated an army of 7000, with less than 150 casualties, and even then, most of the casualties are those who have been grievously injured in previous battles. "Son, your weapons are a gift from the gods." Beamed Stoick.

"And we shall thank them for our gift tonight when we honour them for our victory," Hiccup replied as he tested a sword taken from the battlefield on a corpse, but he soon cast it aside, it was not even a scratch on his Ulfbehrt. Turning his attention from Stoick Hiccup looked to a man on his knees, "You should have accepted my offer."

The man give him no verbal response and Hiccup did not care, he did not need him to speak; he needed him to be a laughing stock. "Father, strip him naked and mount him backwards on a pig, let the men do as they please, but he is to survive until the day after."

Hearing the man's humiliating punishment Stoick released a throaty laugh and reached down to the prisoner, if Hiccup wanted his men to have a good old laugh then who is Stoick to deny his wishes? Arriving at the castle under siege the next day Hiccup took a small relieved sigh, the men he left behind had done their job and the longships are still intact. Once they had re-established themselves in their camp Hiccup did give himself any time to rest. Finding one man in particular Hiccup called his name, "Alvin." The outcast had been in charge of their ships defences

The large Viking turned from facing a small fire for warmth, "What do you want?" He asked with a grumble. "Come here to gloat of your victories?" The Outcast chief and Hiccup had not been on close terms since Hiccup arrived in the middle of his town with more than three baker's dozen of dragons and demanded his immediate surrender. While Alvin is a one who tends to favour violence, thinking it to be the easy solution for most problems, even he knew a fight with a dragon equipped Berk would be suicide, so in desperation, he struck a deal with the young Houligan. The deal being he remains in charge of Outcast island, and he would surrender, Hiccup, not seeing the need for blood loss accepted this deal.

"I need you and your men to do what you outcasts do best."

Alvin considered this for a moment before turning his body from the fire and facing Hiccup, "And what is that exactly?" Since news of his surrender, Alvin had become a little something of a laughing stock for other Viking chiefs, who claimed all he is good for is surrendering.

"Dig," Hiccup responded simply to Alvin. "We have sat idle twiddling our thumbs long enough don't you think? It is time we take the castle."

This news cheered the moping Viking up, Alvin had hoped he would go into battle with Hiccup where he could show off his skill set in battle, and hopefully gain some respect back. "Well, why didn't you say boy? What do you need us to do?"

"Come." Hiccup instructed and the two men walked to a point where they could see the castle, "I need you to dig under their fortification on the far right side."

Alvin laughed at this instruction, "No lad, that is certain to bring death with no honour," Hiccup looked to Alvin and the man who's tribe built tunnels for a living and what other tribes thought was fun continued, "You see the river? Makes the ground wet, waterlogged almost, the tunnel will collapse on you with no warning. You need me to go from the far side under that fortification, much safer and I can guarantee to bring down the walls."

"You are certain of this?" Asked Hiccup dubious of the man.

Alvin laughed, since arriving on outcast island he had done little other than dig tunnels, "When was the last time you built a tunnel laddy?" With no available response, Alvin continued, "Thought so. We dig from the far side."

Hiccup considered the castle for a small while and then nodded in agreement, "That will work, get digging."

"On one condition," Alvin tried but Hiccup would not listen.

"You do not get to make conditions here Alvin. Get digging."

As Hiccup left him to it Alvin grumbled under his voice how he would throttle the life out of that boy if it is the last thing he does.

 **Later on same day,**

With many Vikings looking on Hiccup called, "Release him," And a few Vikings released a boar with a naked man on the back, slapping and beating the pig so that it would run towards the castle. As the pig arrived at the castles front gates Hiccup waited for a small door just ajar from the gate to start opening before turning to Mulch and nodding, the man being one of the best spear hurlers Hiccup knows, and within seconds of being rescued from those in the castle the man is killed by the spears cold hard steel.

 **Next chapter we see Arendelle for the first time.**


	7. Chapter 7

**asdh**

 **Lost it never had it  
Your right about it being in-accurate and the point about dragons. I can only keep this is accurate to a degree, after all when did we ever have dragons? I am more going for the mindset and philosophy of Vikings in that raiding is a perfectly feesable way of life, and there is glory to be had in battle. If I wanted to take this as real as possible then I would get rid of dragons and have just Vikings raiding, but then if I did that I would remove every element of HTTYD. So while I advertise this as a realistic take on Vikings, its more a brutal telling of HTTYD and what would have happened if they were actual vikings.**

 **I'm also going to explore the political situation of Arendelle soon, but you start to gain a picture of what has happened / is going on in this chapter.**

 **Cheers for the review!**

 **Warorpeace  
Well, you know, some things are worth looking for... or something like that.**

 **Cheers for the comment!**

Hiccup stood tall on the bow of Jörmungandr, Berk's flagship, as they sailed into Berk's protective cove. It had been a long time since he had been in Berk and it felt good to eventually be home with ships laden with plunder. It was a brutal fight for the city when the walls finally fell with thanks to Alvin's tunnels, but the Vikings got what they wanted, and that is the main thing. Curiously, however, for the size of the city it had a suspiciously low level of food, maybe the defending citizens inside had eaten a large portion of it, but the chief did not think so, believing it was more to do with the freak snow storm that had destroyed their own crops.

As Hiccup thought about the low levels of food Stoick came behind his son. "You left barely more than a boy, and now you return as a chief, and respected warrior."

Hiccup turned to regard his father. "Yet I do not feel any different."

Stoick nodded as he stood by Hiccups side, casting his eyes over his hometown, the people now aware of their return had come out in the droves to greet them. "I still remember the day my father and your grandfather was killed by a bastard Nightmare. I inherited a town in flames and a sinking ship. If only he could see it now."

"Is that supposed to be of insight to me?"

"No." Stoick replied, "Just a memory. You feel the same as before you left because what you have gained control of has not fully sunk in yet. It will soon."

"In all likelihood," Hiccup initially responded, and then after a small silence he added, "Now I am chief I am curious, what are you going to do with the rest of your days?"

"Me?" Asked Stoick rhetorically. "I have not thought about it. Maybe I will teach our next generation of warriors if you allow it."

Hiccup raised a questioning brow; he is still not used to the idea of his father asking him for permission to do things. "If that is what you wish for."

"It is," Stoick confirmed before turning to face up the long boat. "We will talk about this later when people eventually leave us alone."

Hiccup nodded in agreement, the docks are now mere seconds away, meaning he is soon going to be surrounded by curious Vikings who will want to hear all the details about their raids and discover what loot they have returned with.

 **The next day**

Hiccup is stood with his shoulder leaning on a wooden beam, unusually for this time of year it is raining a mixture of snow and ice cold water, something the chief suspected is a knock off effect of the earlier snow storm. Tonight the people had a party planned for his ascension to chiefdom and to thank the gods for their successful raid, but he is not in a partying mood. "You look like the definition of misery," Astrid stated as she came to stand beside him.

"Good to see you too." Hiccup quipped as he turned his head to look at the shield maiden. "What do you need?" He then followed up with.

"Do I need something to see my friend?" She asked innocently, but Hiccup raised a knowing brow, since becoming chief no one came to see him as lowly Hiccup, meaning instead, they came to see him as Chief of Berk and her conquests. "Fine, I want to go on the next raid." Hiccup continued to keep his brow raised, prompting Astrid to explain her request. "I am being driven mad being left here like an unwanted nuisance. Let me come and gain honour in battle, let me show my fellow Vikings what I can do. I need this."

Hiccup considered her request for a mere moment before responding. "Someone needs to stay here to protect our people when we go raiding."

"Then leave Snotlout." Astrid countered hotly. "He has done nothing but sung to the gods about how happy he is to be home and in a proper bed." Hiccup nodded his head in agreement, it was obvious to any tom dick or harry that Snotlout is more than happy to be home, but Hiccup doubted that Snotlout would be happy if he was left behind to defend the village. As Hiccup thought Astrid continued, "And who do you expect me to protect our village from when you take all our men raiding? The men of Bog island?"

Hiccup breathed out heavily before replying to Astrid, "The odd dragon still tries to snatch our sheep and raid our stocks," Responded Hiccup casually. "Someone who knows how to handle them needs to chase them away."

Astrid snorted in disgust. "So when I was left behind I was nothing but a glammerous scarecrow for dragons?"

"More or less." Hiccup told her bluntly before adding. "For now I am not granting or denying your request, but I will think on this."

"Thank-you." Astrid stated rather blankly. "That is all I request."

 **Meanwhile, Arendelle.**

Elsa tapped the table in front of her with her right hand, the news from up North is worrying, saying the least, and now this? The Queen needed to tread carefully with her next actions. "No." She eventually responded to her inner circle. "I will not help their cause."

"Your majesty?" Asked a concerned aide. "We must show support for our northern neighbour, especially considering the current state of affairs."

"We should support a nation blackmailing us into handing over valuable resources our own people are in dire need for?" Asked Elsa hotly? "I think not."

"But surely you must see the need to assist? If not stopped the next time the savages come they could land on our very own shores."

"And we will be ready for them," Elsa informed the aid. "Besides, I wish to discuss with these... pagans, and attempt to find a peaceful solution to their acts of savagery, should they ever plant feet on our shores."

"But they can not be reasoned with," An aid slammed his open palm on the table in frustration, causing the Queen to raise her brow in warning. "We should act with a swift response which extinguishes the light of their eyes."

"And you know they can not be reasoned with how? Have you personally talked with their leader Lord Weiser? Or is there something else you are keeping from this table that we should know?"

"I have seen what lies in their wake, your highness, and it is the work of the devil. Reasoning with these... these brutes and barbarians is begging on our hands and knees for God to strike us down."

"And how do you know they are not carrying out the work of our Lord? Without speaking with them we will never know, and I will not authorise an invasion into unknown territories without having first talked to a representative of their leader, or have their people run amok in our lands."

"And that is your final judgement?"

"Indeed it is, and I will allow you personally to deliver it to our northern neighbour, Lord Weiser."

/.../

 **3 months later**

A man who held the equivilent rank to admiral in the Kings navy slumped down into a chair near a fire, he had just spent the last few hours checking the various ships and vessels that have been designated for the incursion far north.

"Well?" Asked a man who looked up from a book when the admiral entered the room.

The man shook his head as he rubbed his arms to warm up, by now winter has hit the northern countries and is biting down hard, making its presence known. After throwing his overjacket on a clothes horse near a fire to dry out the admiral replied. "We just need the word."

The man who was already in the room shook his head in dissaproval. "I do not know why the king insists we travel in these harsh months. We will lose more to the weather than combat."

The give a knowing nod before adding his response, "The pagan ships are small and likely can not sustain the harsh winds, our ships can. Hopefully they will not suspect our arrival and we will have the element of surprise."

The man previously in the room shook his head again, the entire invasion force is cobbled together from various different forces, from various allied nations, all in the kings desire to get the jump on the pagans. The man also suspected due to the rushed way the invasion force had been assembled that something is bound to go wrong, but he bit his tongue, the last thing the men need to hear is his own doubts on the force assembled. "This incurison has an awful lot pinned on the word 'hopefully'."

The Admiral snorted, "It pains me to agree so."


	8. Chapter 8

**Just a short one but it's a fun one, or atleast I had fun writing the last scene, even if it is a little bit far fetched and out of character for this story, but if you have watched Gift of the Night Fury you will appreciate it hopefully.**

 **RR**

 **Goddragonking  
Thanks for the comments! Hope you enjoy this chapter**

 **The-real-dragon-rider  
The dragons are going to be animalistic, but at the same time, some are going to be smart enough to understand how a life of co-operation with Vikings is better for all parties. Toothless will be a little bit different due to his need for Hiccup. **

To some, sailing far north during the heaviest of winter months may have been a good idea, with the short days, heavy winds and turbulent oceans making travel by sea hard work. Voyaging the seas in winter is something not many would people expect, allowing for a surprise attack from the southerners, but what the people from far south did not expect is dragon wielding Vikings. Jumping off her dragon the moment it landed Astrid instantly made her way to a nearby fire pit for its life-saving warmth, knowing she is on the verge of hypothermia.

Seeing the dragon rider enter the dragon pens and land in a bit of a hurry Spitelout approached her, "What have you been smoking to fly for so long in that?" He pointed to outside the dragon pens where visibility is reduced due to a massive snowstorm that has been raging for the better part of a day now.

"Ships, Last Call," Astrid told him as her teeth chattered.

"Are there now?" Spitelout asked with his arms crossed beneath his large sheepskin, which protects the man from the cold surprisingly well.

"No." The shieldmaiden replied sarcastically, "I flew from Rotten Isle in that for the fun of it."

"You are delirious." Spitelout told her, not believing the fact there are ships at Last Call, "Only the mad and maybe the bear skins would travel those waters, go get some food and warm up."

"I am .not. delirious. I know what I have seen."

"Like your father before you, hmm?" Pushed Spitelout with a dig at the Hofferson name before turning to return to his duties. Astrid wanted to snap at the man as no one disrespects the Hofferson name like that and walks away without a bruising, but even she knew snapping at Spitelout is not a good idea, especially when she can barely stand unaided with thanks to the cold.

Entering the towns forge sometime later Astrid looked around till she found two men standing over an anvil, both hammering the same piece of metal that is glowing bright white with perfectly synced strikes so that they did not block one another's clash of the hammer. "Hiccup!" Astrid called over the crash of hammers. "There are ships at Last Call."

Hiccup turned his head mid strike and looked at her with a deep frown. "At Last Call? Are they mad?"

"Apparently so," The shield maiden replied.

As the hammering had come to a stop, Gobber took the piece of metal they were working on and placed it back in the forge, allowing Hiccup to talk to Astrid. "Who's sail do they fly?"

"None that I recognise, and the ships are odd."

"Are you sure?" Hiccup asked, still disbelieving the fact someone would be so stupid to travel the seas in the harsh winter months. "Did you see them with your own eyes?"

"Yes." Astrid exclaimed, "Why do people find it so hard to believe me?"

Hiccup considered her for a short time before nodding his head and sighing, "Then we have a problem, but first of all I want to know why you were at Last Call to start with."

"I can go where I want." Astrid told him, "And when I want, but if you really must know, I was helping Cami locate a troublesome Thunderdrum that give us the runaround."

"I see," Hiccup responded before turning to Gobber who is stood on the side listening in, "Thoughts?"

"Not even Dager dares dip his toe's when Hodur visits. It would be wise to find out who the ships belong to."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Hiccup conceded. "We will deal with this when there is a calm in the storm, so be ready to move at a moments notice."

 **1 day later - sunset**

Anchored below Hiccup in a small safe harbour that is located almost exactly halfway between mainland Europe and the Viking Archipelago is a relatively large fleet, and Hiccup found himself most amused at how the southerners thought they could travel the seas when winter has its teeth firmly placed. Signalling to his riders with a simple hand gesture his group landed on one of the islands where a large cliff provided some shelter. "No traditional fires." Hiccup instructed the group when they landed, "The last thing we need is to tell them we are here with a big plume of smoke."

"Then what do you want us to do?" Snotlout asked with an annoyed voice. "Freeze to death."

Hiccup tilted his head in Snotlouts direction before shaking his head in amusement. Kneeling down in front of a large boulder a small time later he instructed Stormfly to incinerate a patch rock with its fire and since the dragon's flames burn so hot, and use clean fuel they leave no visible smoke plumes to give them away to those on the ships. As the riders crowd around the now glowing boulder for warmth Hiccup parts with them his plan, "I want to talk to someone, so we are going to snatch them off the ship at the far side of the safe harbour when it is dark."

 **Berk - The next day.**

The Vikings had snatched two people, the first is an older man in the mid 30's, and the second is a much younger person who looks around the two decades of age mark. Arriving in the great hall Hiccup had Stoick throw the duo they captured to their knees in front of his chair while he sat down next to Toothless who is happy to watch proceedings from a large granite slab which is warmed by a large fire underneath, it is good to be the Chiefs dragon as the perks are many.

Raising a hand to stop the squabbling Vikings who had come to watch proceedings Hiccup waited till the chatter died down to address them, "This is the spoil's from my recent ventures to Last Call," He told them. "Where a fleet has gathered, so I would appreciate it if you could hold your tongue."

With the Vikings agreeing to be quiet Hiccup started his interrogation in Germanic, but stopped shortly into proceedings to address his Vikings once more. "The old man says he will die before he speaks." This caused a chuckle to erupt in the room and when it quietened back down Hiccup added. "I do not believe him. Astrid, bring me as much Yaknog as you can muster." This caused another eruption of laughter in the room and soon Astrid had a few delicious cups of Yaknog ready, allowing Hiccup to continue. "Let the fun and games begin." This statement referenced how many Vikings had put bets on how many cups the man could consume before starting to squawk.

At the end of the first forced cup there were a few disappointed comments made regarding lost bets and a few more at the end of the second cup but after an additional half, there were some cheers. "And Astrid's Yaknog has broken him." The chief announced with a chuckle. "They have come from the lands we raided, and wish to destroy us." In truth, Hiccup already knew this; he simply took the duo so that other Vikings would believe someone had been stupid enough to try and travel the seas.

This prompted a few concerned comments, but mostly it was comments of disbelief. "And I say," Hiccup continued, silencing the crowd again, "If Hodur lets them find their way to our archipelago, to test us, then we will have a surprise ready for them."

 **Cheers**


	9. Chapter 9

**RR**

 **Goddragonking  
Cheers! Hope you enjoy this update. **

**Noctus  
Ah, you had me worried for a while, glad to see your still kicking about! And I will not lie, you just prompted me to write this as you give me a nice idea with the whole concept of having a woman represent Hiccup, and I believe it ties in nicely with this story. So cheers for the idea. **

**As for the Yaknog, it give me a chuckle writing it, I had debated doing torture in a bit of detail but I think the Yaknog is much friendlier for the younger audience, and what it's use implies is easily understood.**

 **Also I do not know if your up to date with TMFB but I need to finish these stories by september, so things may start to seem rushed a little as I try to get them to a point of being 'finished' or at a point where I can leave them for a while to return at a much later date.**

 **So you may actually see Hiccup / Anna's interactions sooner than you think.**

 **Early spring**

The fleets from the south never did arrive, but they did give Hiccup pause all the same, it showed the southerners are capable of forming a fleet, and they could return at any time now that winter is receding. As he worked at his anvil, he heard his father's heavy footsteps behind him. "Son," Stoick called to him, "What is this I hear about your gold?"

Hiccup put his hammer down and turned to face his father, knowing that this discussion could not be put off any longer. "The decision is made, and Thor sent me a sign to show he approves."

"A sign?" Asked Stoic with great interest.

"Yes," Hiccup responded, "As I made my decision he struck his shield with his hammer and lit the skies, he celebrates for I have opened the door for many new victories."

"But that is _your_ gold son!"

Hiccup shrugged his shoulders, "How much gold does one man need? I already have three stashes ready for the afterlife."

Stoick released a growl from his throat; his son had accumalated as much wealth in a few short years as he had in his entire life. "Then do tell me, what have you used your gold for."

"I am glad you asked, follow me." Hiccup man's stoick outside and stopped infront of a the first person them come across, who happened to be leading some pigs to water. "Brynhild, bring me your weapon of choice and your shield, and bring your sons."

As the man ran to get the items his chief asked for Stoick asked, "What is the purpose of this."

"Be patient," Hiccup told him, and soon Brynhild returned with his best shield, sword and his two sons, one is nearly 14 years old, the other a few years younger. Taking the mans sword, Hiccup asked, "This is your best sword?"

"Yes, Chief." The man replied, "It has been in my family for generations."

Hiccup inspected the sword before passing it to Stoick, "And these are your sons? What are their names?"

"Arne is my youngest, and Gunnar my oldest."

Hiccup looked at Gunnar and then asked, "Do you want to raid with me?" Of course Gunnar wanted to raid with Hiccup, so Hiccup turned to Brynhild, "And this is your families best equipment?"

"Yes chief."

Hiccup then turned to Stoick, "We are raiding with men whose shields are falling apart and whose swords couldn't cut through butter. With better equipment, supplied by me, then we shall be a force to reckon with."

Stoick handed Brynhild the sword back, "But you had more gold than most can dream of, you surely have not spent it all on swords and sheilds?"

"Of course not, who can forget ale for our victories? And come with me." Hiccup took Stoick to the most sothern island in Viking territory, where it comes evident Hiccup has been busy. "My next raid is to destroy their fleet they sent against us, these ships will let us do that." The ships have been designed from scratch for naval warfare, and have been constructed with the finest equipment Hiccup could afford. Ontop of this he has had men training non stop for naval warfare so that when they go raiding, they will be ready to deliver.

/.../

 **1 week prior to raids**

Astrid stood in the door to the great hall as Hiccup was about to leave, and he could see from her face that she wants to say something, probably about wanting to go raiding, so he beats her to the punch. "Follow." He instructs with a single word, and he takes her to the docks, all the while Astrid follows silently.

Arriving at the docks, Hiccup stops in front of a medium sized snekke. "This is your ship to command." He tells her simply.

Astrid eyes the ship before turning to Hiccup with narrow eyes. "What is the catch?"

"You have to live with Fishlegs."

Astrid groaned, Fishlegs did not get the name Fishlegs for no reason, no the man is awful at sea and reguarly vomits. "Why me? Send him with Snotlout."

"Because," Hiccup started, "You are not going raiding and will need a translator, I want you to head further south than we have ever been, and I want you to find what treasures await. Do this, gain the respect of your men in battle and only then will I allow you to raid with the rest of us."

Astrid is angry with Hiccup for not allowing her to raid, but at the same time, she is pleased he has given her this opportunity because she will not fail him and next time she will raid with the men.

/.../

 **Considerable time later**

Elsa has a problem, and a big one, the Vikings are raiding the northern coastline, assaulting coastal town after coastal town and leaving all but wreck and ruin in their wake. With the devastation, the nations of the north are demanding money and resources from her own nation, as repayment for the damaged caused by the 'eternal winter.' As she eats dinner with her sister she can not help but ponder who is currently the biggest problem for her, the Vikings or her so-called Northern allies who do nothing but demand from her and her people.

As she raises a bread roll to her mouth, she hears the metal clink of armored feet on the stone floor of her palace making their way towards her from down the corridor. Looking up from her meal she looks at three armed men who had just arrived. "Yes?" She asked expectedly as she lowers the bread roll she was about to eat to her plate.

"Your majesty, a ship flying a Viking sail has entered the mouth of Aren." The Aren is the river Arendelle is built upon.

"Then it begins. Order my council to gather immediately."

/.../

"No." Elsa silenced the arguing council, they had established that the single ship is not an invasion, but a scouting party, what they are arguing over is what they should do with it.

"We will not let them leave, but I do not want them killed. Odo, I want you to capture them and bring them here so I can talk with them." The man looked hesitant, so Elsa iterated, "I want to make it clear that they are not to be killed unless they leave you no choice."

"No choice?" Asked Odo hotly. "These are brutes and animals; they would rather die in battle than be captured."

The Queen did not seem pleased with this answer, "If you can not find me a solution to this problem then I will find someone else who can. What do you say?"

Odo did not look happy. "I will bring them to you on their knees."

 **Sorry if there was a bunch of mistakes in this, I wrote it on a whimm late at night. Things will be corrected soon-ish**.


End file.
